Increased complexity in Radiation Therapy

“Twenty years have elapsed since the last edition was published and during that time the world of radiation oncology has changed beyond measure. These two decades have seen an unprecedented expansion in the technological tools at our disposal with clear benefits to our patients. At the same time, however, the “Great Expansion” has added the challenge of deep complexity to our planning and treatment delivery. These decades have also been associated with a vigorous awareness of safety in medicine generally and radiation oncology in particular.”

IQM reduces complexity…

IQM is designed to reduce complexity.

Using the original treatment plan, not a QA variation. Breaking treatment delivery down to its smallest unit, the control point. Focusing on the result of delivering each set of machine settings, one control point at a time. Minimizing the severity of treatment delivery errors by detecting them in real time. Maximizing the detection probability with a simple design that still addresses every change in the beam fluence. Improving patient safety by making verification completely automatic.

IQM reduces complexity. Making treatment delivery safer.

Reducing complexity

… of treatment techniques.

IQM drills down to the lowest possible level of complexity in the treatment field: the control points at which all treatment machine settings are defined. IQM verifies the dose fluence at each control point in real-time. Even the most complex SBRT and VMAT fields are broken down into control point settings for delivery. IQM measures each one individually. One after another. As the field is delivered.

IQM’s unique focus on individual control points counteracts the complexity of modern treatment techniques. Today and in the future.

IQM monitors the accuracy of each step of the treatment delivery process. In real-time. All the time.

Reducing complexity

… of treatment processes.

IQM is a physics tool for the independent verification of the entire treatment planning and delivery workflow. IQM measures the final product of this workflow at the point after which it is irreversible. An independent and fully automated verification of the entire treatment delivery process. At the point of delivery. 5 times per second. All day long. Process control and risk management when it really matters.

Minimize the severity of a treatment delivery error. Maximize the detection probability. Automatically. With IQM. In real-time.

Reducing complexity

…of treatment monitoring.

Every step of the IQM process is completely automated. IQM real-time verification requires no user interaction. At all.

IQM’s automated QA is independent from the user’s experience. Independent from user knowledge, attention, and workload. Independent from any human factor. At any point of the treatment delivery process.

Fully automated verification for the highest level of treatment quality.

Reducing complexity

… of verification data.

IQM reduces the complexity of verification data, isolating the beam geometry from the patient geometry. IQM verifies the final beam product at the point after which it is irreversible. IQM measures every influence on the treatment beam. At every control point. In real-time.

IQM verifies the quality of the treatment delivery. To ensure the accuracy of patient positioning, aligning the patient in the correct treatment position is optimally done using the cone-beam CT. Maintaining the patient position during treatment in real-time is now possible with intra-fraction motion management systems and ultimately with future MRI-Linear Accelerators.

Each of those specialized systems ensure highly precise treatment delivery and optimal care for the patients without further increasing the overall complexity.

Reducing complexity

… of verification results.

IQM measures every influence on the treatment beam. At every control point. In real-time. IQM integrates all parameter of a beam segment into a single number. One number for every beam segment. Segment-by-segment-by-segment. IQM fingerprints a treatment beam. And detects any deviation in real-time. No aligning of two dose fluences. No distance-to-agreement test. No dose difference test. No gamma-index analysis. A simple comparison of a measured signal against a calculated or measured reference signal. In real-time.

Ultimately fast. Ultimately simple. Ultimately accurate.

Reducing complexity

… of measuring device quality assurance.

A single ion chamber. Three simple aluminum plates. Providing unmatched spatial resolution. For every field size. At every field location. The most powerful treatment verification system available on the market.

A new approach for all plan verification and machine QA needs. Uniquely simple. Uniquely robust. With minimal maintenance. For everyday use. All the time.

"A physics tool for the independent verification of the final beam product."

"Measuring with IQM is a piece of cake..."

"I see endless possibilities..."

Henk Huizenga, Ph.D. Head of Radiation Oncology Physics, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

"As systems and delivery techniques are becoming more and more complex, the human factor and its contribution to the detection and prevention of errors is becoming less effective. The IQM is an automated tool that breaks that complexity by providing the user an independent and highly precise tool to monitor the accuracy of the delivery."

"IQM is a key component of our automated treatment quality control and allows us to fully comply with the requirements defined in the 2013/59/EURATOM directive."

"The quick setup and fully automated handling of all clinical data significantly reduces the time we need for Plan QA. Our clinical evaluation has shown that the error detection capability of the IQM System is at least as good, and in many cases even better, than with conventional 3D phantoms."

Otto Sauer, Ph.D., Head of Medical Physics, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany